In June 2001, Daniel Boulud, one of America's most celebrated chefs, opened DB Bistro Moderne in midtown Manhattan. Its signature dish, a $27 hamburger, was meant to announce the restaurant's departure from the gilded modern French cuisine that made the chef famous.

The price tag of the "DB Burger" was rationalized with enrichments of braised short ribs, foie gras and truffles. It was, in the last innocent months leading up to 9/11, the talk of New York City, and its influence on fine dining still reverberates throughout the country. Boulud made the hamburger a worthy -- not to mention expensive -- object of a serious chef's ambition.

I was reminded of this last spring, when John Besh, a year removed from winning his James Beard Award, opened Luke in the Central Business District. Everyone I spoke with who'd tried the place mentioned the gargantuan Emmenthaler cheeseburger draped in Allan Benton's smoked country bacon.

Luke's burger is a juicy, decadent specimen, served -- like the DB Burger -- with a generous side of frites exploding from the top of a cup.

That burger compelled me to sample, over the past couple of months, every highfalutin hamburger I came across.

They seem to be everywhere, from the covers of recent issues of Gourmet and Bon Appetit to the menus of risk-taking restaurants such as Cuvee, which features (as an appetizer) a truffle cheeseburger "po-boy" made with Kobe beef, served with a short Barq's root beer float.

I actually found more Kobe beef in hamburgers around town than actual steaks. A waiter presented the condiments on a sleek platter alongside the Kobe beef cheeseburger at Emeril's, while the Kobe burgers are tucked inside mini brioche rolls at Zoe in the W Hotel. The Palace Cafe uses ground prime sirloin and homemade bacon for the cheeseburger on its lunch menu.

These burgers all had their virtues, although as I neared the end of my investigation, it occurred to me that I preferred none of them to the hamburgers at Port of Call.

The Esplanade Avenue restaurant and barroom serves what is arguably the city's most beloved hamburger. The Port's burgers are, like the restaurant, nothing fancy: No truffles, enlarged goose liver or pampered Japanese cow meat here, just a brawny, char-scarred bit of evidence as to why a classic hamburger is nearly perfect.

The restaurant opened in 1963 as a steakhouse. The burgers grew out of a need to do something with the scraps left over from the hand-cut steaks, says general manager Mike Mollere, who's worked at the Port of Call for 31 years. The burgers today are the product of repetition -- the daily grinding of the beef, the hand-forming of half-pound patties that are grilled to order -- not invention.

The rest is, like pretty much all great New Orleans dishes, an accident of history.

"We didn't have any deep fryers here, so we used the baked potatoes from the steaks to put next to the burger," Mollere said. As for the grated, unmelted cheddar on the cheeseburgers: "We've got two grills and an oven, that's it. We couldn't melt any cheese if we wanted to."

While essentially a seafood town, New Orleans has a fairly rich hamburger history. Onion smothered hamburger steaks are staples at quintessentially New Orleans joints such as Bozo's in Metairie (established: 1928), which serves one of my favorite no-nonsense burgers in town: A loosely packed patty of juicy, beefy meat served on a soft bun. I order mine dressed with cheese and grilled onions and it is, like the fried seafood Bozo's is famous for, an example of a dish found everywhere, just rarely handled with such care.

In terms of both size and succulence, Bozo's cheeseburger is reminiscent of the one at Lee's on Veterans Memorial Boulevard, the location of the splintered chain that I frequent. The fresh beef patties are griddled with diced onions, which caramelize and adhere to the meat, increasing the salty-sweet flavor of every bite. It is, for my money, the best fast-food hamburger this side of In-N-Out Burger, the progressive West Coast chain.

Eating any one of these classic hamburgers, it's not difficult to imagine the sandwich inspiring a chef of erudite training. Hamburgers achieve a balance -- the pickles and/or mustard providing tart relief from the rich meat, the bun and fries starchy sustenance, the lettuce a crisp, tempering coolness -- chefs try to approximate with even their most extravagant creations.

Several years ago, Scott Boswell, chef-owner of Stella!, unwittingly retraced the steps of chefs at Port of Call when he started grinding the scraps left over from his filet mignons to make hamburgers. The end result, which he served at staff meals, was a crucial spark leading to the creation of Stanley, the polished diner and ice cream parlor he plans to reopen on Jackson Square later this year. One day he'd like to have 1,000 Stanleys around the world.

Phil de Gruy harbors hamburger dreams of his own. He built his career working his way into the management ranks of chain restaurants such as Chili's, Zea and Texas Roadhouse.

Last March, he unveiled his own concept, Phil's Grill, which he opened in an old O'Henry's in Fat City. It is the ultimate marriage of downscale aesthetics and modern culinary principles.

Phil's chef, Daryll Schmidt, went to the Culinary Institute of America and has worked at Bayona. The fresh Angus beef hamburgers are $8.99, including one side item, and available with a dizzying array of sauces, buns, cheese and other toppings.

STAFF PHOTO BY DONALD STOUTPhil de Gruy stands before the restaurant that hamburgers built.

My favorite -- poppy seed bun, sauteed onions, pickles and Gruyere cheese -- has more in common with what's found in area dives than anything Boulud has wrought.

"The best burgers in New Orleans are in the barrooms, so that's what I went for," said de Gruy. "A good burger and a cold beer. You can't beat it."
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Did we miss your favorite burger joint? Tell us about the place and what makes the burgers so great at blog.nola.com/brettanderson or send an e-mail to lagniappe@timespicayune.com.

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BRETT'S BURGERS

Bozo's
3117 21st St., Metairie, (504) 831-8666
The hamburger is loosely packed and served on a soft bun (or, if you prefer, and I don't, French bread). Its quality rivals Bozo's exemplary seafood.